The inaugural launch of what is hoped to become a grand club classic series of annual races (as the Lotus Cup has become in Europe) sets off from Rosamond, California at the oldest dedicated road course in Southern California ... Willow Springs International Raceway. This weekend, March 5 & 6, in conjunction with Redline Track Events, about 25 competitors will gather with their Lotus Elise, Exige, 2-Eleven and Europa race cars to begin an eight race series season that will see these very light and very fast enthusiast vehicles compete at some of the best racing venues anywhere. Welcome to the Lotus Cup USA - West Coast edition.

When the season-ending event at Las vegas Motor Speedway takes place during the first weekend of November, these Lotus car owners will have raced at such vaunted ALMS, NASCAR, and IndyCar venues as Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Firebird International Raceway at Phoenix, Miller Motorsports Park outside Salt Lake City, and, of course, Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca.

This weekend will also feature The Redline Pro Track Challenge, The Redline Pro Time Attack, and The MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship.

This excerpted and edited from Redline Track Events -

Road Racing With A Twist

The Pro Track Challenge introduces one of the most exciting twists to road racing in decades! Competitors will race “Heads-Up” in 2 lap, rolling start, wheel-to-wheel Battles, with the winner moving on and collecting the winnings; and the loser loading the car on the trailer. Over the course of an afternoon of racing, 22 separate Battles will play out in exciting “Green-White-Checker” intensity. With a winner being determined every four minutes, the Pro Track Challenge offers rapid fire action full of adrenaline, sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!----Circuit Battles TV Show

Circuit Battles is the new television show airing on the Versus Network, chronicling the 16 teams of the Pro Track Challenge as they fight their way through the season. The first one hour show will air on Versus March 26th at 11:00 am Pacific time/2:00 pm Eastern time. Don’t miss the first “Circuit Battles”! It will be epic!----Redline Pro Time Attack is the premiere event for Pro level time attack teams to showcase their talent, skills, products, and sponsors. Redline Pro Time Attack offers the most consistent, professionally managed and newsworthy events for the sport of Time Attack. As the longest running and most respected sanctioned time attack events in North America, Redline Pro Time Attack offers certifiable competition results, sanctioned by the most thorough and tested time attack rule set, backed by 40+ years of combined motorsport event experience.

Beginning with the 2011 season, Redline Pro Time Attack will reformat the weekend of racing activities to better showcase the top level talent and premier teams that are involved in the sport of time attack. Fans of the Redline Time Attack Series can expect to see a total of up to 45 cars competing at any given event, consisting of a wide range of vehicles, teams and drivers. The mix of vehicles will consist of both Franchise Teams and non-franchise teams.----the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship (MPTCC for short!), sanctioned by Redline Track Events, is set to reinvigorate road racing! With a relatively open set of rules for the two classes of competition, fan friendly aspects of the popular sport of Time Attack will finally be applied to traditional road racing.

Redline Track Events, has teamed up with Mike Kojima, founder of MotoIQ.com, to bring excitement and relevance back to circuit racing. Production based cars racing in two different classes (weight:power ratios) with bolt on performance upgrades will be a featured aspect of all 10 Rounds of the Redline Track Events 2011 season.

By following a simple formula of creating two classes, keeping the cars and the parts used relevant to the aftermarket tuner scene, featuring popular drivers and tuners, and welcoming fans and media alike, the MPTCC will quickly become the preferred destination for grass roots and semi-professional circuit racers.----Free Ticket to Round 1 Willow Springs!

To introduce the new Pro Track Challenge racing format and to allow the maximum number of people possible to attend the filming of the first episode of “Circuit Battles”, Redline Track Events is giving away free tickets to Sunday, March 6th Round One at Willow Springs International Raceway!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to be a part of the inaugural event of 2011. If you would like to attend Saturday, March 5th tickets will be available at the gate for $10.00. That makes the price of admission for a full weekend of non-stop action only $10.00!!!

Children under 12 are always free with an adult at Redline Track Events!----The first episode of the TV show “Circuit Battles” will air on the Versus Channel March 26th at 11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern. Be at part of history!!Reference Here>>

While this pairing with the greater Redline Track Events makes for a broadened menu of track competition schedule of events ... seeing nothing but cars in colors with the unique character and hue of Isotope Green, Laser Blue, Chrome Orange, Carbon Grey, and Solar Yellow carrying the prestige of the Lotus car mark may just be what most purist club racers will be looking for during the inaugural Lotus Cup USA West Coast series of races at Willow Springs.